League looks to curb binge drinking

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on August 23, 2009, 10:49 PM EDT

At the same time the NFL is selling a portable ping pong table that anyone with an ounce of common sense (or eight ounces of suds) realizes is actually a beer pong table, the league also hopes to restrict the extent to which the thing will actually be used on game day.

According to McCarthy, the league has recommended that the 32 teams (and 31 stadiums in which they play) limit tailgating to 3.5 hours before games, and to do a better job of monitoring and enforcing rules against excessive alcohol consumption in stadium parking areas.

(Maybe they should just insert a tracking chip in each of those officially licensed ping pong tables.)

McCarthy reports that the league also wants teams to limit customers to no more than two 20-ounce beers, or one 24-ounce beer, per transaction. Teams also will print the following message on most cups of beer: “Fans don’t let fans drive drunk.”

We approve the efforts, but we’ve been to enough games to know that the NFL has a better chance of overtaking soccer as the top sport outside the U.S. than it does eradicating the drunks from American football stadiums.

But, hey, if one less drunken yay-hoo is on the highway after a game, the efforts are worth every second and cent devoted to them.

25 responses to “League looks to curb binge drinking”

@ Florio,
You must be really old.
ANY table is a beer pong table.
“the league also wants teams to limit customers to no more than two 20-ounce beers, or one 24-ounce beer, per transaction.”
Why? Because two 24-ounce beers would be out of control?

Come on, this is stupid. I understand the desire to cut down on drinking and driving, but this is not going to help. People are going to drink. By cutting down on the time you can tailgating you are only encouraging more drinking and driving.
People will drink prior to showing up for tailgating. Plus what about those that want to hang out for 4 or 5 hours prior to the game and drink properly or don’t drink at all.

Limit tailgating to 3.5 hours before the game?
…you can’t get plastered in 3.5 hours???
You can limit it to 30 minutes before the games, but people are still going to get hammered in whatever time they have.
And limiting beers per transaction doesn’t matter anyway. You think someone that is willing to pay 8 dollars a beer and getting drunk is going to care how many times they have to go to the counter to purchase said beers? I sure don’t.
If you limit tailgating times too much, people might drink else where and then drive to the game.
Like you, Florio, I applaud the league in it’s efforts to limit the amount of drunk driving and unruly A holes inside the stadium, but people are going to do what they want, how they want. Short of breathalyzer tests in order to enter/buy any alcohol/exit the stadium, it’s just wasted (no pun intended) effort.
THE AUTOMATIC LOGGING OUT FEATURE SUCKS! Get it fixed!

# Mike Vick, Pet Detective says: August 23, 2009 11:23 PM
The subhuman Philly fans aren’t going to be happy about this.
__________________________________
Yeah, those horrible, awful, barbaric, good for nothing slimeball Philly fans are obviously the only fans of any of the 32 teams (in 31 stadiums) that drink alcohol. Shame on them, let’s all point our fingers at Philly!
You douchebag.

The stadiums thrive on beer sales. Teams make tons of money selling it. There are kiosks all over the place. They want to sell lots of beers.
One thing & one thing only is motivating this: Legal liability. Owners worry the next billion dollars they shell out will be for a wrongful death settlement.
Of course nobody in the NFL approves of drunk driving or wants it to happen, but these new rules won’t stop it.
That said, I agree with MF its’ worth the effort to save somebody’s life. I just bristle at the League acting pious about it.

As a brit, the whole NFL stadium experience is fantastic (even with the Raider fan next to me in Dolphin stadium being hammered by the third quarter) but the maths of it all terrify me: ever drunk fan seemed to be about to drive home!
If you really want to do something about the drunk driving, improve the public transport! When the NFL comes to Wembley 80-90% of the fans will get there by tube (subway). Getting a bus to Monster Park in San Fran was like joining a secret society – you guys must be spoiled by having so much land for parking lots. Use google earth to have a look at English Premiership grounds and see how many parking lots you can see!!!

Just set up road blocks outside of the staium to stop drunk driving. Limiting time will not stop it, the best way for fans to do it is to hang in the parking lot after games and drink water and eat some food to sober up. Plus most people get drunk before the game and buy one or two beers in the stadium so limiting that wont work either. The league would not be nearly as successful without booze, they should not try to hide from this

Ian,
Most of the east coast cities have subways or busses to the stadia (Philly is really good), but you’re right – it should be much better. But don’t be so proud of the parking around your soccer (yeah, I sad soccer) fields. Most of them were built before cars, right? Back in ancient times, hundreds of years before the dawn of history, when an ancient race of people… the Druids, dressed like leprechans, danced around Stonehenge?

Funny, that wouldn’t change a thing in Mass. anyway.
Can’t buy more than two beers at a time, and the Pats don’t open their gates until 4 hours ahead of the game time so a half hour less just means drink those other two or three beers faster…Trust me, Bostonians can put down a 12 pack on their own in 3.5 hours…
It would be a bigger impact on Arrowhead Stadium as those fans take their tailgating to a whole ‘nother level, one thing I certainly admire about those Chiefs fans.

I went Cleveland Browns stadium Saturday, sat in $75 dollar seats (I didn’t pay for them, I wouldn’t waste my money), paid $24 for bacon cheese fries, onion rings for my girl and 2 beers for us. I went up immediately after half time to get 2 more beers, and the were no longer serving! They said it was “something new we are doing this year”. So what did I do? I left the game. If I want to go to a Browns game and have a few beers, I should damn well be able to. I would have been more than pissed had I actually bought the tickets with my own cash. The prices they charge for the food and drinks is frankly just plain out of control. Then they stop selling beer at half time??? This isn’t our dad’s NFL anymore people. The “Nancy-pants Football Leauge”. They think they can tell us how much time we can spend tailgating in stadium parking lots that in most cases our tax dollars paid to build, then charge us rediculous ticket prices to get into stadiums we helped pay for, only to overcharge us by 5000% for bad food and flat beer, then tell us that we can’t drink to much??? I only had one beer, because I didn’t want to drink to much, then I couldn’t get another! Had to pay $4.25 for a Diet Coke that tasted like someone took a piss in it! We as fans need to speak up, empty the seats, and really hurt these owners and this league, where it hurts, the pocketbook.
I’ll be watching NFL games from home from now on. Where I can drink all the cheap beer I want.
Maybe the UFL won’t try to tell me what I can and can’t drink after the butt-rape me for my tickets… where’s the closest team to Cleveland???

(Maybe they should just insert a tracking chip in each of those officially licensed ping pong tables.)
ROTFLLMAOLOLOLOLZOMG!!!1!!!1!!
*sigh*
Some people are funny when they try to be. Some folks are unintentionally funny. How do you manage to miss both of these demographics?
Oh and this rule will only lead to more people being hammered prior to kickoff and earlier exits from the stadium.